The Hourglass

[Jaxon Del]

It was morning.

Time for breakfast, the human youngling shuffled through the line and is seated with his classmates and friends. Out of the corner of his eye he spies his heroes walk into the dining hall to get their food. He sees one of them hold the other's back and then proceeds to get in line last behind all of them. His brown eyes watch in fascination as they go through the line and find their seats. He slowly eats his food and watch as the new youngling walked in late again. He saw Master Orspach, call him over and give him his food. What? Why? He was late!

Those Padawans at that table, Qareth Amarrion and Julian Orspach were the two Jedi he looked up to the most, he watched them banter back and forth for a minute and he smiled. He spent so much time in the training arenas and had even been lucky enough to spar with Julian once before. He learned everything he could about being a Jedi from those two at least when he was out of class and had free time that is. He wished to himself that one day one of them would choose him as their Padawan.

It was late at night.

He is sixteen, a full Padawan braid hangs down from his thick head of black hair. He nervously checks his comm on his left wrist. She was late checking in with him, she should have been at the checkpoint Bravo and hour ago...two hours ago now. She was NEVER this late. He was told to wait here but he was alone and he hadn't heard from her. He taps the table nervously. What could possibly be taking them so long? They weren't expecting any interference, not here, not on this world at least. They had planned for the contingency of course, but they surely did NOT expect it at all. Something was wrong. He cursed under his breath and threw his brown cloak over his shoulders and walked out the door into the rain...

It was just after lunch.

Master Orspach had disappeared over a year ago now and he mourned the loss of one of his idols. He had just gotten a haircut, a fresh braid hung down noticeably longer than the rest of his hair. His heart beat out of his chest as he stood alone waiting for his knew master to come in the room. Who would it be? There were so few Knights and Masters left at the temple now and the pickings were slim, the amount of younglings that made acceptable students had also dropped off in recent years. Fewer and fewer students seemed to be coming to the temple and as a result he was one of the few Guardians he had received special training from Master Lynd. He had done everything he could to be the best that he could possibly me and now was the moment of truth. The door whooshed open, he turned and a hooded figure entered the room...


The ten year old stood up from breakfast and headed to his first class of the day. He wasn't always the best student in the classroom, but outside of the classroom he was a prodigy, inside of the classroom however he was a true Guardian. Intelligent and gifted to be sure, but the type of learning the youngling craved for was the kind that you get as a Padawan from a Master, not from a book. It had taken him the first few years of being at the temple to understand just how important the classroom learning actually was to his whole education as a Jedi, but he would still be lying if he said it was something that he actually enjoyed. He took a deep breath as he sat down behind the desk in the middle of the classroom and the instructor walked in. He had been up all night studying and hoped beyond hope that it had been enough. He knew he didn't have to do this as often for too much longer, soon he would be picked as Padawan maybe this year or next, but it was probably going to be soon and then he could learn through experience rather than trying to physically shove the contents of a book into his brain. He thought for a second, maybe if he had Aiden who was his friend and fellow Guardian beat him over the head with the book if he'd somehow manage to absorb the contents...a thought that was better than studying anyway.


The rain fell heavy on the sixteen year old's cloak and quickly began to soak him to the core as he made his way through the back alleys headed to the initial rendezvous point, he knew the route like the back of his hand and had even been the one to figure it out. Perhaps that book learning as a youngling had paid off after all? He had no time for thoughts of his youth, he moved with a purpose down the streets. It wasn't too terribly much further now, he had gone three kilometers from the safe house and still had another one and half kilometers to go. It was dark and cold and something in his gut told him that something was incredibly wrong. He found himself constantly looking down at his wrist, occasionally feeling the phantom vibration from a notification that had yet to arrive. He was getting increasingly nervous. He needed to focus, He needed to stop what he was doing now. In fact, he needed to stop altogether. He commanded his legs to stop moving for a moment when he was in a place he deemed safe enough to do so. He closed his eyes for a moment and allowed the force to flow through him just like had been taught and had done countless times before. Each breath was controlled, in...one.....two......three.......four......and out......one......two.....three....four..... he repeated this for several more moments focusing on the here and now and controlling what he could control which were his own emotions and his own anxiety. None of the worrying was going to do any good if he ran into trouble, he'd be fighting at a disadvantage if he had to fight. But was there anyone here to fight?


As the door opened he smiled widely as SHE walked in. It was as if his dream had come true. He bowed and then kneeled before her respectfully and lowered his head. This couldn't be happening! Someone needed to pinch him and make sure he was actually awake, his heart threatened to burst out of his chest and fall on the floor.

"Jaxon Del, I take you as my Padawan Learner."

His heart skipped a beat as he heard the words, he was going to be learning from Qareth, one of the most accomplished Jedi Guardians in the order. She was a new Knight too and they had always gotten along, this was going to be great. She had so much to offer in her teachings....oh! He nearly forgot what he was supposed to say.

"I pledge that I...I can't remember what I'm supposed to say. I...I promise I will be your faithful student and will devote myself to learning from you...I think that's it."

He was excited she could tell, but he hoped he hadn't messed it up too bad. Did it really matter? She touched his shoulder and motioned for him to stand up and offered him a warm smile.

"It's alright Jaxon, good enough, but first thing we work on is getting your emotions under control."

He did mess it up. Whatever. He nodded respectfully to her.

"Yes Master."

They turned together in stride and Qareth placed her hand on her new student's shoulder and they exited the room together...


The test. Uggh. He breathed through his nose and gripped the corner of his desk with his free hand. He hated tests, he couldn't hit them with his training saber. That much was frowned upon at least so he thought. He wondered if ever there was a youngling who had taken upon themselves to burst into the classroom as the teacher was handing out the tests and draw his mighty training saber and cut the tests in half as he force pushed them into the air. Yeah. That would be absolutely amazing his ten year old brain reasoned that would be absolutely amazing. He smiled to himself, by the end of this test his black hair was going to be grey, he was going to be the youngest old Jedi in history. Only a few more questions left...uggh...and done. He stood up and walked the test to the instructor's desk bowed respectfully and exited the room. Finally able to breathe a sigh of relief he knew what he needed. Sparring practice! He was off in a flash and headed down the hallway and to the closest training room, he passed several Jedi in the hallway and stopped before entering. He looked down at his comm and checked in as was required of him, this let the masters and senior Padawans know that he was safe and still in the temple. He smiled and pushed open the door to the training room and walked in.


One last breath out. He slowly opened his eyes, his meditation had been brief but it had been enough to center him which is what he desperately needed in this moment. He had already disobeyed direct orders from his master, the last thing that needed to happen was him running into her completely exasperated and out of sorts. After all the training and work they had done on that it would be a shame to take a step back now when it mattered most. He stopped to think for a moment along those lines, had he let his anxiety get the best of him and should he just return to the safe house and await her arrival? He thought for a moment, his mind clear, he glanced down at his comm again. No, something had to be wrong. This much he was sure of, she was never this late and if she was going to be this late she'd have messaged him. Aside from that he was half a kilometer away now. Logic dictated he press on, he might get lectured for disobeying orders but that had happened before, sometimes a Jedi had to make the rules up as he went along, his Master had taught him that and he was certainly looking for an opportunity to respectfully throw it back in her face.

He made sure he was calm and collected, letting his senses dictate his actions before he moved on. He wasn't that far, this last bit of alleyways was a maze wrapped inside a labyrinth, whomever the city planner was who made it needed to be shot he reasoned. Only a few more meters. He rounded the bend and came to the open space within the alleys and stopped cold in his tracks. There were bodies everywhere. His heart sank, he looked at the destruction and felt his weapon fly to his hand almost instinctually as if it knew where it needed to be. He looked over the bodies and then that's when he saw the horns and yellow skin.

"NOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He screamed at the top of his lungs, the depth of the pain so prevalent in his voice. He sprinted over and dropped to her side. There was a wound and he looked at her face, it was bruised, some blood and her eyes...they didn't move...they just sat their. The rain pouring down on him ceased to be a concern, he looked down into her eyes, her lifeless eyes and saw only his reflection. Tears began to flow down his face as he reached out and tried to sense anything any life at all.

"Master....Master please...."

He sensed nothing. She was gone. He felt a lump in his throat grow and his stomach seemed to implode in on itself. He collapsed over her lifeless body and cradled her in his arms sobbing quietly for what seemed like an eternity. He knew what he had to do, he pulled himself away from her, his eyes still not wanting to believe what they were seeing. He was all alone now, she was gone forever and...she had been killed by a lightsaber and then the no good bastard had kicked her in the face. He felt an ember of hatred begin to grown in his stomach and rage filled his aura a nearby window shattered and the ground beneath him cracked. He stared down and saw her eyes once more...it was if he could hear her calming him. He felt her warm hand on the back of his shoulder just like the day she had chosen him as her Padawan. It was soothing and the rage slowly dissipated. He wished he would have been here.

He took his hand and gently smoothed her features. There were so many bodies here, he couldn't possibly give them a decent send off, but he could at least bring her back home. He pulled an emergency blanket from his utility belt and wrapped her up respectfully in it. It was going to be a long walk back to the ship, but that was fine. He clenched his jaw and picked up the body of the Jedi he so admired and adored, the one who had taught him everything and slowly made his way back to their ship...